Hello

 

What would be a good and cheap mini ITX card to build a new Unraid server (I already have one with a micro ATX card)?

 

Thanks

The main issues with going with an ITX motherboard tend to be:

 

1. the number of SATA ports

2. lack of PCI-e 4x slots (which are the best way to add more SATA ports)

3. local availability

4. sometimes they need odd power supplies so replacement can be a problem in the future

 

If you are happy with a maximum of 4 hard drives then there are some options, take a look at www.newegg.com and search their motherboards section for "ITX" to see what's out there.

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

 

 

I have a mini-ITX in my system, with 4 SATA on mobo and 4 SATA on 1430SA. No hardware issues since I built it about a year ago. I don't expect to ever need more.

 

I have used Gigabyte GA-D510UD (dual core Atom) and Asrock H67M-ITX which I use with an i3-2125 processor.  They both have four SATA ports on board.  The Gigabyte has standard PCI. I did use it with a four port SIL3114 based card and it was very reliable as a basic file server.  The Asrock card has PCI-e x16 and so works with PCI-e x4 or x8 PCI-e cards such as the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 which I am currently using.  Gigabyte also have the GA-D525UD (similar to the GA-D510UD but supports DDR3 RAM) and they have socket 1155 boards if you need a bit more processing power.

I'm a big fan of the ZOTAC GF6100-E-E. It goes on sale for as low as $15 sometimes.  The Supermicro Atom boards are also very nice, but pricey.

I'm a bit fan of the ZOTAC GF6100-E-E. It goes on sale for as low as $15 sometimes.  The Supermicro Atom boards are also very nice, but pricey.

 

What/is there recommended HD controller to use 7-8 HDs on this board? I have my eye on this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339

 

Thanks in advance.

I use these extremely inexpensive PCIe x1 SATA cards:

 

SATA2 Serial ATA II PCI-Express RAID Controller Card (Silicon Image SIL3132)

 

They work perfectly with the Zotac board, but they will only give you 2 more SATA ports for a total of 6.  To get to 7 or 8 you'll need to either use a 4 port PCIe x1 card or a port multiplier, both of which will be a bottleneck in your system and slow down your parity checks.  If you want to get to 7 or 8 HDDs without bottlenecks, then you'll need to use a more expensive board, such as the Supermicro X7SPA-HF, which sells for about $220 on Newegg.  Quite the price jump, I know...

There are PCI-e versions of the SIL3124 controller based cards which would give four ports on a PCI-e x1 connection...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-0Gbps-SATA-II-4-PORTS-PCIe-RAID-Control-Card-SIL3124C-/221005017548

 

The SIL3124 chip is supported by unRAID but I have only ever used the slower PCI versions. 

 

The PCI-e version looks like it may use a couple of port-multipliers for some reason - has anyone tried one of these..?

I'm a big fan of the ZOTAC GF6100-E-E. It goes on sale for as low as $15 sometimes.  The Supermicro Atom boards are also very nice, but pricey.

 

There's a really old topic where Raj was involved in the testing for this board if you want to check it out:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=7250.15

 

Note: The topic says that it is not recommended by the wiki however if you read through it seems any apparent issues were resolved. I would be a little cautious of Zotac motherboards though as I haven't had an overly positive experience with them. They make absolutely fantastic video cards however their motherboards appear to be a little bit hit & miss.

I have two of the Zotac boards and have had no issues with them. I paid between $15 and $30 for each of them. Can't beat that!